KF Tokka Week 2012 Stories
by wherewulf
Summary: Stories inspired by the prompts from KF's Tokka Week for 2012.
1. Dances with Badgermoles

Well, KF had a Tokka Week at the beginning of 2012, and although it took me a while to do it (obviously), I thought I'd get around to putting things up here. Prompt 1 for 2012 was **Spar**, so I thought I'd put these two through their paces again.

Hope you like it. Thanks again for reading, and especially for commenting. It's always appreciated.

* * *

**_Dances with Badgermoles_**

"_No._" Toph was adamant. "You _do_ not do it that way. All that fancy hopping around is going to get you killed!"

Aang held his hands out to the sides. "But I was just getting out of the way!"

Toph pointed at him. "Listen, Twinkletoes. You keep hopping around like that, you're gonna get careless and you're gonna get clobbered."

Sokka snorted from his spot by the trees. "Hey, he blew _you_ out of the ring in Earth Rumble Six!"

Toph frowned at him. "_Which_ I was just about to address." She turned her attention back to Aang. "You blew me out of the ring once. But if we had kept fighting, I would have figured out your pattern. You would have gotten predictable, I would have laid a trap, and I would have caught you. And _then_ where would your fancy dancing get you?"

Aang tried to interject. "But I—"

"You would have gotten _smashed between two boulders_, that's what!" She let up a little. "Listen, Aang. You gonna fight _with_ an Earthbender, you better fight _like_ an Earthbender. Fancy dance all you want, but if you can't block and you can't deflect, then you're history. It's that simple. Now do it again!"

Sokka moved forward and slid down the short slope into the arena. "You know what—_I_ want a turn."

That took both Toph and Aang by surprise. "What?"

"I want a go at you. You're teaching Aang to fight like an Earthbender—I want a chance to fight _with_ one."

Aang tilted his head. "Why?"

"Hey, we're going up against other Benders all the time." Sokka shrugged. "I want a chance to learn how to fight one on my own."

Aang looked uncertain. "_You_ want to fight against _me?_"

"No..." Sokka pointed at Toph. "_I_ want to fight against _her._"

Toph snorted. "Are you serious? _You_ wanna fight against _me?_"

Sokka nodded. "That's what I said."

"I don't know, Sokka," said Aang, still not convinced. "She's been pretty tough on me. And _I'm_ the Avatar."

"I know. I still want a shot."

"All right..." Aang made his way out of the arena. "I still don't think this is a good idea."

"Hey." Toph made a no-look point at Aang. "You stick around—your lessons aren't over. You might as well learn from this too."

Sokka cut off a thin branch a little longer than his arm from a nearby tree with his knife, then trimmed away the leaves. Aang tilted his head. "What are you doing?"

"Making a weapon." Sokka sheathed his knife. "If I can touch Toph with this, I figure I'm doing something right. I can't use a sword."

"That makes sense," Aang said, still dubious. He took a seat on the embankment.

Sokka turned to Toph. "I'm ready if you are."

In answer, Toph sent a quick current of Earth his way and popped a column of rock up under him. Sokka went flying.

"_Yaaaaaaaaaah!_"

Mercifully into the bushes. Aang winced on impact.

Toph looked apologetic... sort of. "Oh, I'm sorry, Sokka—I thought you were _ready._" She snickered.

Sokka pulled leaves out of his shirt and his ears. He collected his stick. "_All right. That_ was a _freebie._" He charged.

Toph laughed. "I'm sorry... there are no freebies in _my_ game."

It was the beginning of a long afternoon.

Toph turned the ground to quicksand, and Sokka ran right into it—right up to his waist. Toph gleefully jumped up and landed on his head, shoving him under, then hopped in herself. A moment later the quicksand spat Sokka out, then solidified into a hard surface. Sokka stomped off to cut himself another stick, but then his stick suddenly spat out of the ground too, hitting him in the back of the head.

Then Toph herself popped up out of the ground. "Hey, Sokka! Betcha can't catch me!"

Sokka lunged—but Toph went back below ground. Again she popped up nearby. "Hey, over here!"

Sokka lunged again. Miss. Again Toph popped up. "Boy, are you slow."

Lunge. Miss. And a column of rock in the butt sent Sokka flying. And his stick.

Toph came back above ground again. "Are you _sure_ you want to keep doing this?"

Sokka glowered. "_Yes._"

Again Sokka charged, this time in a random zigzag. His pattern foiled several boulders and Earth currents, but didn't foil the sudden sinkhole that swallowed him up.

Toph looked at her fingernails. "Just let me know when, okay, hotshot?"

Sokka's head and shoulders burst above ground, and he gasped air for several breaths. "Let you know when what?"

"When you want to stop this. I can do this all day."

Sokka levered himself up out of the hole, then reached in and pulled the stick out too. He walked over. "Are you trying to tell me I can't beat a bender?"

"No..." She leaned toward him. "I'm trying to tell you you can't beat _me_. I'm too much for you."

He leaned toward her. "I already know that."

She threw her arms out to the sides. "Then why are you doing this?"

"Hey." He smiled. "I figured that if I can lose even halfway badly to you, I _might_ beat another bender."

She leaned in closer and smiled. "Flattery will get you somewhere, Snoozles."

He grinned goofily, spread his arms... and tapped her once on the butt with his stick.

That drew an immediate thundercloud of brows and a column of earth underneath that sent him flying into the bushes. Again.

A few moments later, the bushes spoke.

"Heh. Totally worth it."


	2. How the Other Half Lives

Thanks, VividDreamer! I appreciate it!

Prompt 2 for KF's 2012 Tokka Week was _**Redemption.**_

When I thought about what stories I could write about Redemption, I thought about who or what could be redeemed by doing... something. This might be a bit of a stretch, relying as it does on one particular phrase in "The Headband", but I thought it made sense, given Sokka's background. Hope you like it.

* * *

**_How the Other Half Lives_**

The Gaang was slowly making its way to the rendezvous point for the invasion on the Day of Black Sun, stopping at villages here and there—"doing reconnaissance," as Sokka put it. "Killing time" was how everyone else put it—as well as "doing shopping", which Sokka couldn't believe.

"Oooo..." Katara reached for a golden yellow silk scarf. "And it feels so soft, too... so silky."

"Well, it should, Katara," said Aang, trying to hold back a chuckle. "It _is_ silk, after all."

Katara made a face at him. Then she wrapped it once around her neck, and loosely draped the end around her head. She twirled around. "What do you think?"

The yellow of the scarf complimented her red dress and dark skin, making her look very exotic. Aang would have said so, had his brain remembered the words. Somehow his tongue reconnected with his brain. "Wow... you look great, Katara."

Katara smiled. "Thanks."

"I dunno..." said Toph. "It really doesn't match your skin tone."

"Really?" said Katara. "Hmph. Somehow I thought the scarf was so bright that it—" Then she saw Toph wearing her huge "gotcha" smile. Katara frown-smiled at her. "Yeah. I thought so."

Toph shrugged, still smiling. "Just telling you what I thought."

"Uh-huh." Katara untwirled the scarf from her head and examined it. "I wonder if I could get one of these in Ba Sing Se?"

"Ba Sing Se?" the clothing merchant asked shrilly. "Why would you wanna go there?"

"She means... after we've conquered the place! Yeah!" said Sokka, suddenly barging in in a broad voice. "You know... victor gets the spoils, heh heh heh..." The shopkeeper gave him the eye.

Sokka plucked the scarf from Katara's hands, tossed it back on the stand, and shooed the Gaang further away into town.

"Sokka..." said Katara, "I _wanted_ that!"

"Will you _quit it?_" he replied in a strained voice. "Do you remember where we are?"

"Sokka." Katara put her hands on her hips. "We've been buying stuff all the time! What's your problem?"

"We're a few weeks away from _the Day of Black Sun_, that's what!" he answered, still trying to keep his voice down. "This is an _enemy town!_ We don't want to give ourselves away!"

"Well, we _are_ going to give ourselves away if we don't act normal," she replied tartly. "I'm going to have a look at that scarf."

"But—"

Katara walked right past him and headed back to the clothing merchant.

Sokka folded his arms and frowned. "Girls. I just don't get them sometimes."

"Yeah. Me either."

Both Sokka and Aang turned to look at Toph—who grinned.

They passed the time watching the people in the market.

"Hey." Aang pointed discreetly. "There's a boy over there with a huge sack of rice. Think we ought to help him?"

Sokka looked. Sure enough, there was a young boy struggling with a sack of rice that was almost as large as he was—and it probably weighed more than he did. That didn't stop the boy from trying to bodily move the sack away from the shop.

Sokka's instinct was to not get involved, let it be, not do anything... but no one in the village was doing a thing to help the boy; not a thing. And the boy was still trying to walk the massive sack away, step... by step... corner... by corner... and getting visibly more and more tired.

Finally Sokka couldn't stand it any longer. He walked over to the boy. "Hey. Need some help?"

"Nope," the boy panted between heaves of the sack. "I... can get... this home... myself... thank you."

"Why did you get such a huge sack of rice?" asked Aang.

Now the boy stopped. "It was all they had," the boy said plaintively. "I wanted to get a smaller one, but the man in the store said this was it."

Sokka frowned. "So why didn't you go get someone to help you?"

"I didn't want to leave the bag alone," the boy replied. "Someone might buy it—or steal it. And my mom said I had to bring home the rice."

"_We_ could help you carry it," Aang offered.

"_No._ I don't want any help. Besides, _you_ might steal it!"

Sokka snorted. "Kid—believe me, we're not gonna steal it. You can trust us." He gestured at Aang. "I mean, _he's_ the A—" Sokka somehow brought himself to a shuddering halt before he said the dreaded word.

The boy looked at him funny. "He's the _Aaaah—_?"

"I mean... he's a good guy. Yeah." Sokka recovered quickly. "Hey—let us help you carry this back to the store. Then the storekeeper can watch over it, and you can get your dad to come get it."

Immediately the boy looked crestfallen. "That's... that's not gonna work either."

"Why not? Isn't your dad around?"

"He's..." The boy let out a small sigh. "He's around, all right." He looked off into the distance. Sokka and Aang followed his gaze... to the village's burial ground.

Aang's eyes widened. "Oh, no..."

Several things went through Sokka's mind at once: the oversized bag of rice... the young boy, younger even than Sokka was when Hakoda had left for the war... the huge feeling of loss when the Southern Water Tribe ships had vanished into the mists... how Sokka would have felt if he had never seen his father again... how Sokka _did_ feel when he had had to say goodbye to his mother.

Now this silly sack of rice. And this young boy, who was trying to do what his mother had asked him to do, no matter how hard it was, no matter how ridiculous he looked. Manfully carrying on, despite... everything.

That felt very familiar.

Sokka smiled sadly... then inspiration struck.

"Okay. I know what to do."

He reached over his shoulders and unslung his space sword from his back. Scabbard and all, he handed it to the boy. "Here. You cover us with this. You tell us where your home is, and we'll carry the sack of rice for you. If we don't, then you _make_ us do it with that sword."

The boy's eyes slowly widened. "Really?"

Sokka nodded. "Uh-huh."

The boy looked really happy that he really was going to get the bag of rice home, dubious at the whole turn of events, wondrous at the sword he held in his hands... all at once. He shook his head briskly and came to himself. "This way," he said, and took the lead.

"It's true," the boy's mother said sadly. "Hika went away to fight about a year ago. He said he was drafted, but looking at the soldiers who were with him... We got to say goodbye, at least. And then they brought him home, a month ago..." She looked at the floor, and closed her eyes.

She wasn't the only one.

"I'm so sorry," said Sokka. "I wish there was something we could—"

"No." The woman wiped her eyes and smiled. "You've done enough. Helping Nika bring the rice home is more than I could ask." She glared in the direction of the market. "Things have changed so much since..."

"Still..." said Sokka. "I wish that I could—"

He brought his hand up in a gesture, and there was a soft _clink_. He looked down; his hand had nudged his moneybag in the process, which was still full with money from Toph's scams.

There was a little hesitation—it _was_ cold hard cash, after all—but he took the bag off his belt and smiled. "Here. Please. It's the least I can do."

The woman's eyes filled with tears. "How... how can I ever...?"

Sokka shook his head, a little teary himself. "Believe me, you don't have to."

"Thank you. Thank you so much." The woman smiled through her tears. "At least... stay for dinner."

Toph grinned. "We can do that."

The next morning the Gaang packed their supplies back aboard Appa, settled in for the trip, and took off.

"So what was _all that?_" Toph asked, a little mocking in her voice.

Sokka looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"All that with the boy, and his mother. I thought this was an _enemy town._"

"Well, it is! But they— and I— oh, you know!"

"Don't worry, Sokka." Toph patted his forearm. "I won't tell anybody you helped the enemy. I thought it was very nice."

Appa sailed off into the morning sky.

"You're never going to let me forget this, are you?"

"Nope."

Nor did she.


	3. Hearing Footsteps

Thanks, papyrus, VividDreamer, Vee! :D

To answer your question, Vee, as to who redeemed who (Who? Whom? Ah, well) the line from "The Headband" I was thinking of was near the beginning where Sokka says, "We're in enemy territory! These are _enemy birds." _My thought was that by seeing this, going through this, the ordinary people of the Fire Nation were redeemed in Sokka's eyes, not out-and-out warmongers like Zuko, Azula, and Zhao, among others. Sokka got to see how other Fire Nation people had fared in the war, and so...

I guess you could argue, too, that since Sokka went through this experience, he too was redeemed by it since he gained a broader-minded view of his adversaries. So… both, I guess?

For that matter, Vee, congrats on typing all that on your phone in the first place!

And I agree, papyrus. XD I enjoyed writing the spot where Sokka hands over his precious sword to a small boy as a gesture of trust, and then the little boy "covering" them with it.

Prompt 3 for 2012 was **_Endangerment_**. I went through a few scenarios in my mind, including Sokka taking Toph someplace dangerous and Toph rescuing Sokka from something, but I decided on one where Toph and Sokka are just themselves… in a different environment. One where Toph has to play "One of these things is not like the others…"

Thanks again for reading. :D

* * *

**_Hearing Footsteps_**

The battle brewed up out of nowhere.

An hour after Aang and Katara had gone off to meet with opposition leaders about _another_ obstacle and _another_ problem with the peace treaty, people poured out of the woods to attack the Gaang's camp—rebel Fire Nation soldiers opposed to the treaty. Or more like dead set against it ever taking place. Literally.

Sokka was on one side of the camp, chopping wood, and Toph was on the other, picking her toes, when the attack started. Actually it was Toph who started the attack. She felt someone coming—a lot of someones—and jumped to her feet. "We're being attacked!"

Sokka turned with his axe. "_What?_ Toph... there's no one aro—"

Toph lunged toward the other side of the camp and an Earth current roared through, erupting into a cliff-like mound of rock just as Fire Nation soldiers were about to run into the camp. The front four were thrown backwards. The rest poured around the rock with swords, spears, and fire.

Sokka took one look at that, dropped the axe, and scampered for his weapons. One man took a swing at him with his sword—Sokka dodged—and another lunged at him with his spear. Sokka took hold of a tent and threw it at him, enshrouding the man in canvas, then hit him over the head with a rock. The man went down in a tent-covered heap. Sokka quickly gathered up his boomerang and sword.

Toph was in her element. Combat had been a part of her life for so long that to drop into that mindframe was second nature. The world changed from being full of things and people to just... targets.

Hard step on the left. Several people in front. No problem.

She lunged left, ripping off an Earth current, then she stomped hard. Several stones flew up from the earth, and she roundhouse kicked them at the ones in front. She raised a wedge of rock and blocked the fiery response.

_Wait. Where's—_

"Sokka!" she called.

Sokka was busy fending off swords with his own and playing duck-and-dodge with the Firebenders. "What?"

Okay. Now she knew where he was.

Down came the rock wedge. She raised a boulder from the earth, blocked more fireblasts in front, and then punch-punch-punched into the rock, sending shards of stone flying out. She knocked the remaining stone sideways, making a group of soldiers dodge.

For his part, Sokka was holding his own, making the soldiers think twice about his sword. He had found his club, too, and delivered a few headaches. "Why can't you guys just go home, all right?"

"That's the deal, Waterboy," said one of them. "This _is_ our home. And we're taking it back!" He lunged. Sokka knocked his spear aside and then clipped him with his warclub.

Two of his opponents got ready to bend fire at him. Sokka saw it, got ready to duck—then jumped as a wave of rock blew through the Firebenders. He relaxed—a little. "Thanks, Toph!"

"You're welcome." Toph smiled grimly. Back to work. "Who's next, Hotheads?"

That answer came quick in a ball of fire. No problem. She sidestepped, then sent an Earth current down the same line. Another stomp. More rocks. Scatter fire. _Any day, boys, any day. You're mine._

Hard stomp on the right. Incoming Fire. Fine. Rock shield and block. And punch—_wait!_

She felt that way. Several people were fighting there. Was Sokka—which one was Sokka?

"Sokka!"

"_What?!_" he replied from amongst the group. "I'm trying to—_uhh!—fight_ here, if you don't—"

He was all right—_good_—but in the way. Toph grimaced. _Not so good._

Flank. Roll right.

Toph dove to her right, rolled, brought up some rocks, and kicked them ahead of her. Another roll—_more fire_—somehow she got rock up in time to block it.

She left it up and felt. Six in front, three to the left, and two to the right. Okay—but _which one was Sokka?_

"Sokka!"

Okay, two choices. One, go over there and figure out which one is him, clean off the other, and fight. Two, go after the others and not worry about Sokka.

_Not worry about Sokka._ She gritted her teeth. Like that was possible.

"_Yeah?_" Sokka dropped his sword, took a two-handed grip on his club, and bashed his opponent's sword out of his hand. "_Hah!_" He grinned triumphantly at the solider, and got punched in the jaw for his trouble. Sokka wound up on the recoil and slugged him in the stomach with the club, then brought down a hammerfist on his exposed neck. That soldier went down.

Toph grinned. That made for a simple solution.

She spread-eagled herself and drew rock and earth to her, making for an even coating of Earthen armor; only her mouth was showing. "Okay, Fireflies—_let's dance!_"

She skate-ran into their midst on her rock shoes, ignoring all the fire they were pouring at her. Once she was in their middle she blew her armor apart, hurling rock in every direction. Skate to the left. Rock column to the face of one. Roundhouse kick it to the left and take down some more. She was Earth. She was elemental. She—

—didn't know where Sokka was.

"Sokka!"

Eight of them around now—no, seven. One of them fell over. Another rock shield roundhouse kick combo. Punch out the remaining rock. Rock shield.

No response. All she heard were the grunts and groans of the soldiers.

"_Sokka!_"

She felt. Lots of movement. None of it distinctly his. Where was he?

Another Fire attack, to the left. Sidestep. Rock shield. Punch through. You'd think they'd learn. The others were slackening, beginning to waver.

She got in the face of one. He swung and missed with a sword. Another rock column sent him flying.

Nothing. No sounds other than grunts. Several fighters down, some where he was last. She _thought_.

"**_Sokka!_**"

A thrown spear. Rock block. She hurled a spear-column of rock back at the soldier. It missed, but sent shards of rock everywhere. He ran.

So did another. Then another. Then another. Then the rest broke. And then... all was quiet. Except for her panting for breath, there was nothing else.

_Oh, no. No. No, no, no._

"**_Sokka!_**"

Tears were forming in her eyes. She didn't want to give up hope. She couldn't give up hope. He had to be here. He would have said something, yelled something, anything. He wouldn't have just—

There were several ways to know. It was gross, but there were ways.

She went to the soldier nearest her, knelt down, and sniffed. No.

She went to the next. Sniffed. No.

Then on to the next. Sniffed. No.

Then on to the next. Sniffed.

Wait.

She went to the man's feet and sniffed carefully.

She fell over, both from the smell and from relief. _Yes._ It was him.

Quickly she got up and felt his chest. She couldn't tell. She leaned down close to his head, held her breath—

Yes. His breaths were shallow, but he was still breathing.

She felt his body with her hands, carefully, thoroughly. Other than bumps, bruises, and a few minor cuts, he _seemed_ to be all right. He wasn't bleeding, his body seemed... all right, from her other senses, he was just... not conscious. Which by itself wasn't _bad_, but...

A sadness welled up. And guilt.

_I should have gone to him._

_I don't know what happened, but I had a chance to put him with me, and I didn't. I just... went for the other guys. And now..._

She brought her attention back to him. He was breathing peacefully now, no sign of any distress. He could have been sleeping.

That spurred her to action. _Dang it, if I'm gonna feel guilty, I'm gonna share it with somebody!_

She went to the remains of the camp, found a waterskin, came back, and poured it on his head. Sokka spluttered into life. "_Hey!_ Wh-what the—! What'd you do that for?"

Toph was beside herself with relief—not that she was going to share that. "Welcome back, sleepy head!"

"_What?_ And whose fault is that, Ms. I'm-going-to-explode-my-rock-armor-in-my-friend's-face?"

"_What?_"

"Yeah! You skated into the middle of the bad guys, I ran toward you to help, and then pow! Rock armor to the face! Not—pleasant!"

She poked him in the chest. "Listen, you! If you didn't have the sense to get out of the way of a rock shower, who am I to stop you?"

"Me?" He got to his feet and dusted himself off. "What do you mean, didn't have the sense...?"

They argued that way a while longer, and then it dawned on them that maybe they should let Zuko's troops know what had happened. _Somebody_ needed to take care of the rebels.

They talked about the whole thing on the way to where Zuko's soldiers were camped, reliving the good moments of the fight. They left aside the bad ones—except where they could kid each other about what had happened.

In the quiet time after, though, when they had rejoined Aang and Katara and had settled in for the night, it did occur to Toph: maybe fighting solo style wasn't such a good thing anymore. She got lucky. Today.


	4. Just a Closer Walk with Thee

(grins) Thanks, papyrus, VividDreamer. :D (I have this image of Toph making Sokka wear a little bell so she knows where he is at all times—at least in the middle of combat. _Aaaaaaand_ Katara giving him heck about it. XD)

Prompt #4 for KF's Tokka Week was **_Sabotage_**. I had one idea come into my mind, but that one's going to take some fleshing out, so I'll get to it later. Fortunately, this popped into my mind next. XD Hope you like it.

Incidentally, when I wrote "Something Oogie This Way Comes" recently, I had it in mind as a companion piece to this. XD

* * *

**_Just a Closer Walk With Thee_**

Sokka got up from the campfire and stretched. "Weeelll, I think I'll go for a walk."

"Me too." Toph stood. "It'll be good to stretch my legs."

"Have a good walk," said Aang.

"Yeah." Katara smirked. "Don't get too rambunctious!"

"You mean _you two_ don't get rambunctious," countered Toph. She raised her hands. "With you two alone, who _knows_ what could happen?"

Aang frowned. "Hey, just because we'll be alone doesn't mean—"

"_Smoochie, smoochie, someone's in loo-oooove!_" crooned Sokka, and laughed. Toph joined in the laughter as they walked away.

"Hmph." Katara folded her arms. "Those two should talk."

"Yeah," said Aang, still frowning. "Really."

After a moment, his eyes slid sideways.

Hers did too, meeting his.

They smiled.

The sun was on its way down to the horizon as Toph and Sokka made their way down the trail, the light deepening into a rich gold. Toph snorted. "_Smoochie, smoochie, someone's in loo-ooooove!_" Sokka laughed. "_I've_ been dying to say that!"

"Yeah." Sokka sniffed and wiped his nose. "They've had it coming, believe me."

"Yeah. Lovebirds. Whaddaya gonna do?" They laughed together.

The trail wound its way down the hillside toward a spot that overlooked the lake. It wasn't a smooth trail, either; there were lots of rocks and roots to catch unwary feet. Sokka's foot found one. It caught him, and he stumbled—right on top of Toph.

"Hey!" She laughed and pushed him off.

"Sorry. Root got my foot."

"Suuuure it did." Toph grinned.

But then Sokka slipped on a rock, and there he was again, draped all over Toph.

"Ufff! Ya know—"

"Sorry. Rock."

"Uh-huh."

"What." Sokka grinned. "You don't like me being all over you?" And he promptly sprawled all over her. "Waaa-aaaaaah!"

She almost went down—but she laughed. "Hey-hey, buddy! You watch it, or I'll tell your sister!"

He raised his arms. "Ooooooo, big bad Katara! Scary!"

"Yeah, she'll waterwhip your butt into shape!"

They walked a little further down the trail, and the sun had darkened further, casting a beautiful orange color. It looked wonderful over the dark blue of the water.

Toph got an idea. She smirked, then flicked her finger. A little spur of rock rose up from the ground and caught the toe of Sokka's shoe. He sprawled—all over Toph. She playfully shoved him off. "Hey, buddy, if you can't keep your hands off me..."

"Sorry. Another rock."

She timed it, then flicked her finger again. A rock caught his foot, and again he lurched into her. "Sorry. Another r—hey..." He squinted at her. "Is that you doing that?"

"Doing what?" she replied, all innocence.

"You! With the rocks underfoot! Is that you?"

"Now, Sokka, why would I do something like that?" she answered—then snickered.

He grinned. "Yeah, I thought it was you."

A sudden mist went by; a bit of a surprise, but refreshing in the warm evening. Then Toph slipped on a wet rock and barreled into Sokka.

"Hey!" Sokka set her upright. "Easy!"

"Sorry, I slipped."

Sokka grinned. "Yeah, now you know how it feels, huh?"

"Yeah. I guess."

A little further on Sokka's foot found another rock. Again Sokka staggered, and his body found Toph's. Again. Now she staggered. "Hey!"

"Hey, I'm sorry!"

"Yeah. Aren't you doing that on purpose?"

"No. Why would I?"

She put her hands on her hips. "You did it before."

"Well, yeah, but I—look, it wasn't me!"

"Well, it wasn't me!"

They looked at each other for a moment, not too friendly. Then Sokka gestured down the trail. "Let's... just keep walking. Okay?"

"Okay."

They hadn't gone five steps before a rush of wind came down the hill, knocking Toph into Sokka. "Hey! Toph!"

"It wasn't _me!_"

"Well, I was just walking here!"

"And I was just—_wait a minute..._" Toph stood there for a moment, feeling the earth with her feet. Then she stomped, reached up the hill, and dragged the air toward her.

A small avalanche rumbled behind some bushes and spilled down the hillside... and down onto the trail sprawled Aang and Katara, surprised, but not hurt.

"_What?! You_ two!" Sokka scowled. "Why I oughta—"

Now it was Katara's turn to smirk. "Hey." Aang grinned. "You didn't think we'd take that 'smoochie, smoochie' line sitting down, did you?"

Toph planted her hands on her hips and smirked, appreciating the prank. Then she reached out, pulled, and Rockalanched the both of them down the rest of the hill.


	5. Talking Dirty

Thanks, papyrus, VividDreamer! :D

Gosh, papyrus, miss me? Really? I mean, I'll still be putting stuff out here, even after KF closes… but thank you!

So… prompt 5 for Tokka Week was **_Ecstacy, _**and I figured that word might take me into areas I reaaaally shouldn't—plus, I'm not a lemon writer in the first place—so I figured it was better to write about what Toph and Sokka really really liked. Hope it worked.

Thanks again for reading, everybody—and especially for commenting.

* * *

**_Talking Dirty_**

"_Ahhhhhhhhh!_" Toph slid into the mud bath up to her chin. She flexed her toes. "Nothing like a good mudpit to wallow around in."

This was met with silence.

She looked at her partner in crime. "Well?"

Sokka had been serious about treating Toph to whatever she wanted in the city, and that had included sing-a-long Pa Zingze Opera (his ears still weren't quite right), point-and-eat at the marketplace (that had gotten expensive), and the obligatory Earth Rumble qualifying matches (which had been fun), but this, somehow, was a bit much. He appreciated a "good coating of earth" as much as the next guy—girl—Earthbender. You know—but actually hopping into a bubbling pit of the stuff was, well...

And as the water of the place came from hot springs, the smell of the stuff was faintly volcanic, like the Northern Air Temple, i.e. rotten eggs. That didn't help.

Toph frowned. "Well, are you coming in or aren't you?"

Sokka, clad in his Water Tribe undies/swim trunks, dipped one foot in, and wasn't sure about the feel. He drew the foot back out. "You sure you don't want to go to the opera again?"

"Sokka..."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming." Sokka worked up his determination, slid his foot into the mudbath again—then fell in sideways. A wave of mud rolled Toph's way, which she didn't stop. She smiled, closed her eyes, and let it roll on over her.

Sokka broke the surface gasping. Toph chuckled. "You're supposed to _slide_ in, Meathead."

"Yeah, yeah, so sue me. I'm in."

Now that he was, he found that he could stand if he wanted to; the mud was up to his thighs. It wasn't mud so much as hot, mud-filled water, too, thicker in some places, but not too bad. He sat back down. It actually felt kind of good. "Hmm... slimy... yet satisfying."

Toph leaned back and grinned. "_Now_ you're getting it."

He stretched out a bit. "So you used to do this when you were a kid?"

"Nope. My mom and dad wouldn't let me. They didn't think it was 'dignified'." Toph made a face when she said the word. Then she grinned again. "Which made it real fun when I had the chance."

"Hmm... I'm sensing a formative influence here."

She shrugged. "You say so."

"They wouldn't let you get dirty, so... you really enjoyed it when you did."

"You got it. Plus it's real fun."

Now it was his turn to shrug. "You say so."

"What—you don't like getting real dirty? Especially when your mom and dad don't want you to?"

"Well... not like this."

She snorted. "No, you just like drinking cactus juice and singing about friendly mushrooms. And then licking buggy cave walls when you get bored."

"_That was different!_ We were out in the desert with nothing to drink, and I figured—hey." Toph was breaking up into chortling snickers. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah." Toph was still chuckling.

"Still..." Sokka stretched out some more. "This isn't so bad."

"_Bad?!_" Toph bolted upright. "Sokka, this is heaven! No stress... no strain... It just feels... good. No worries! No thinking, no problems, just good... flowing... earth."

"Yeah, well, maybe I like problems."

Toph snorted. "Yeah. 'Struggle and anguish', isn't that what Katara said Aunt Wu said?"

"Not like that!" Sokka frowned. "I mean I like puzzles—to take things apart, figure out what makes them work. How to make things. How to make things better. How to make things fly. How to _solve_ problems."

Toph hitched an arm up on the side of the pit and cracked a grin. "Sounds like a full time job. Especially with all the problems _you_ have."

Sokka didn't rise to the bait. He just frowned. "You know what I mean."

"Okay, okay. I do know." She folded her arms and sank back into the mud, smiling. "So you do dream about more than just meat, huh?"

"Yeah, I do. I mean, not to not give proper respect to meat, though."

"Yeah." Toph went on smiling. "I've seen that in action."

"Yeah." Sokka cracked a wry grin. "_And_ experienced it yourself."

Toph's hands went up. "Hey, I'm not in denial. I like meat. Just not as much as _you_ do."

"Hey, I'm not in denial either."

She giggled. "Yeah, you're not in denial. You're in de mud."

Sokka snorted. "Yeah. So I am." He leaned in close. "And who put me there?"

Toph grinned hugely. "_I_ did."

He matched the grin. "Yep. You did."

He stayed there a moment... and then without warning, he kissed her.

Now she was really floating, the mud notwithstanding.

Sokka headed back to his seat—but then changed his mind, grinned really wide, and dunked her in the mud.

Toph slowly raised her head out of the mud, glaring... and then, she smiled.

She reached down with her Earthbending and brought up the stickiest, smelliest mud in the bath and raised it up.

Sokka's face fell.

— — —

Toph was leisurely picking her toes at the place the Gaang was staying at when Katara walked in. And smiled. "Sokka would like to stop being a lawn ornament now. He said, 'please'."

Toph stretched and smiled. "Tell him tomorrow. Or until it rains."

Katara's smile got wider. "It hasn't rained in several days."

So did Toph's. "Exactly."

* * *

**A/N:** I'm not sure if this worked either, exactly, but as Beijing was known as "Peking" for a while, and the Chinese have something called Peking Opera, I thought I'd try and apply the same principle to Ba Sing Se. Hence, "Pa Zingze".


	6. Cold Feet

Thanks, VividDreamer, papyrus. XD Yeah, Sokka makes… tactical mistakes sometimes. And I could write a lemon, I suppose, but I never have. That's… just not my style.

And I guess I could have included some fart jokes, papyrus—certainly I had a few in _Second Genesis_—so it's not like I can deny I'd ever use them—but in this case it just didn't occur to me. Easily could have. XD

Prompt 6 for 2012 was **_Shiver._** I had a few ideas, but this one took hold of me, so I decided to run with it.

In hindsight, I guess I could have put this one in for the **_Endangerment_** prompt, too. XD Hope you all like it. And thanks again for reading.

* * *

**_Cold Feet_**

There were times when Toph wondered why in the world she had to fall in love with someone from the South Pole—namely when she followed him to the South Pole to be with him.

Okay, okay, the rest of the Gaang came too, but that wasn't the point. But of all the places in the world where she felt the most vulnerable, a dirtless, rockless, air-so-cold-it-hurts-your-nose-to-breathe-it slushball was near the top of the list. She couldn't "see", her mukluk-covered feet were about to fall off from cold (not really, but—you know), and she felt completely reliant on everybody else for food, shelter, warmth, news about what was going on... pretty much everything—which was _exactly_ what she was trying to get rid of by leaving home.

She hoped Sokka appreciated this.

One afternoon she was bored, and the best cure for it, she felt, was to go and bother Sokka. Great idea.

So where was he?

She went from igloo to igloo looking for him. The Southern Water Tribe had prepared for the Gaang's coming and had graciously spread pebbles again between the main buildings so she could "see" where she was going; she greatly appreciated it. Still, no Sokka.

She risked going a little further out, going to where she could hear people, and she asked them if they had seen him. Nope; no Sokka.

She did eventually find Katara.

"Sokka? Nope, haven't seen him since breakfast."

That did it. Toph could feel the cold creeping up to her knees, and she had had just about enough. "Oh. Okay. Thanks, Katara." She turned around and headed back toward the biggest concentration of noise, where she figured the village was.

"Hey! Toph?"

She turned around. "Yeah?"

"You know, I did see Sokka building a windbreak yesterday, on the other side of the village," Katara said. "I don't know what he's doing, but you might want to check there."

"Okay. Thanks, Katara."

Toph turned around and headed back to the village, leaving Katara to whatever she was doing (_What_ is _she doing out here?_ she wondered. _I didn't hear Twinketoes around anywhere, and he's usually _somewhere_ near Katara. Her without him—that's a first. Darn lovebirds_) and asked for directions on where Sokka was building his windbreak.

"Are you sure you want to go there?" asked Bato. "It's pretty far out on the ice, from where I saw it."

Toph waved off his concerns. "That's okay. Snoozles usually makes a lot of noise. I should be able to hear him."

Bato nodded. "All right, suit yourself. I'll come and check on you in before sundown."

Toph snort-chuckled. "Suit _your_self, Bato. I'll be fine."

"All right."

Bato watched her go, watching her grow smaller and smaller in the white-covered distance. He eventually went back to his work, chuckling to himself. "Snoozles."

A moment later, a sound came across the icy plain.

"I heard that!"

It felt good for the first little while to have said that to Bato. Toph was making her own way and could find Sokka without any help, thank you very much. With nothing making any sounds out there except for the wind, the ocean, and the occasional animal, surely somebody as noisy as Sokka would be easy to find.

As she kept on into the great quiet nothing with just the wind, the ocean, and the occasional animal for company, however, she was beginning to rethink things. That, and her feet were not getting any warmer. She figured it was probably a good thing she couldn't actually see her feet; she imagined that they now were just two lumps of ice, getting larger and larger with every step. At least, that's what they felt like.

Her head was the exact opposite. It was getting very warm. _When I finally _find_ that good-for-nothing meat-for-brains, I'm gonna..._

She would go ten paces, then stop and listen, carefully. Another ten paces. Stop. Listen.

Another ten paces. Stop. Listen.

Nothing was changing. The sounds were the same. She still wasn't hearing anything Sokka-like—no breathing, no mumbling, no talking, no... nothing.

Ten paces. Stop. Listen.

Ten paces. Stop. Listen.

Ten paces. Stop.

Listen.

Nothing.

On top of which, she knew she was a long way out from where she _had_ been, and if she turned around now, there was no guarantee she would turn around and _exactly_ face the village. There was no concentration of noise to focus on now. She could completely miss it on the way back—and Bato would have no idea where to look for her.

She stood there struggling with that thought... and she continued to get colder.

And colder.

And colder.

There was a snap. Behind her.

"Darn it."

She turned around. "_Sokka?_"

Sokka looked up. "Oh, hi, Toph!" He tilted his head. "What are you _doing_ out here?"

"What am I doing out here." Her feet were about to fall off as frozen lumps, and this is what he said. "You know, that's a very good question."

He chuckled. "Well, what _are_ you doing out here?"

"_Freezing my feet off looking for you, you bag of frozen meat!_" she blasted back.

"Okay, so you found me. Hi."

Part of her wanted to blast him into next week with an Earth column for saying that. The rest of her knew that not only was there no Earth to do it with, she'd look darn silly if she tried. She saved that thought for later.

"Yeah. Hi."

She came over to him and sat down.

"What are you doing out _here?_"

He took out his knife and shaved the point of his charcoal stick into the shape he wanted. "Waiting for inspiration." He sheathed the knife.

"Waiting for inspiration. Sokka—you're s-s-sitting out here in the middle of this f-f-f-frozen wasteland waiting for insp-p-p-p-piration? I can think of something inspiring—getting back in where it's w-w-warm!"

"Yeah." He gestured at her with his charcoal stick. "But you can't draw good snowscapes back at the village. It's not natural enough!"

"N-n-n-not n-n-n-n-natural en-n-n-n-nough?! There's p-p-p-plent-t-t-ty of sn-n-n-n-now all around you at the v-v-v-village! Why c-c-c-c-can't you d-d-draw your d-d-d-drawing th-th-th-there?"

She had found Sokka and was out of the wind, but the snow underneath was slowly turning her into a Tophsicle, despite the fur rug they were sitting on. And here he was talking about drawings.

And here _she_ was talking about drawings! What was wrong with her?

"Well, because it's—Toph." Toph's teeth were now audibly starting to chatter. "Toph, you're freezing."

She threw her hands wide. "_Whatever gave you _that_ idea, Mister Artiste?!_"

"Toph, you should have said something! Here." Unlike her, he was prepared to sit out here a long time; he had brought several blankets. He shared them now, opening his coat and placing her right up against his chest, then wrapping the blankets around them.

Toph's world changed immediately. Instead of cold and slowly deadening senses, now she felt warmth, wonderful life-giving warmth, and and smelled the scent of Sokka all over his furs. Sokka shivered. "_Brrrrrrrrrr!_ You're really cold."

She managed a small smile. "I'd never have guessed, genius."

They stayed that way for a while. Eventually Sokka broke the silence, quietly talking about why he was out here, how the light was a certain way on the ice and how it didn't look that way back at the village. Toph was fine with that. She wasn't listening, but she didn't mind Just hearing his voice after all that nothing on the ice was just fine with her.

It had turned out to be a good day after all.


	7. Victory

Thanks, papryus. :DD

Prompt 7 for 2012 was **_Bruise._** I thought of a few ways I might handle this one—Toph taking care of a bruise of Sokka's, Sokka taking care of a bruise of Toph's, one of them bruising the other and having to deal with it—and one other way which I may yet flesh out. We'll see. But the first thought I had I felt was to interpret the bruise internally, so to speak. Hope it worked. And hope you like this.

Also: this is the second time I've referenced Arnold Schwarzenegger's _Conan the Barbarian_ in a fic of mine. XD

* * *

_"Hao! Dai ye! We won again!"_

_The Mongols cheered._

_"This is good," said their leader, "but what is best in life?"_

_A proud Mongol immediately answered. "The open steppe... fleet horse... falcon, at your wrist... and the wind, in your hair."_

_"_**_WRONG!_**_" the leader thundered. He turned. "Conan—what is best in life?"_

_Conan too answered immediately. "To crush your enemies—see them driven before you—and to hear the lamentations of the women!"_

_The Mongols cheered._

_"That is good," said the leader._

—_Conan the Barbarian_ (1982)

* * *

**_Victory_**

The ceremony had been long, long-winded, and boring, like a lot of ceremonies were. Too many people felt they had to say _something_ about what had taken place in order to mark the occasion, and so they filled people's ears with it. For almost the whole day, it seemed.

Yes, the handover of one of the Fire Nation's colonies to the Earth Kingdom was an event of note. But for somebody who couldn't see with her eyes, Toph rather prized her ears, and for somebody to go and occupy them the way this bunch did—interminably—and for her not to say anything about it or them to their faces or otherwise took a lot of self-control.

Well... make that restraint. She honestly couldn't call it control. She knew Aang (and particularly Katara) would take her to task if she did do something, so... she held her tongue. And her foot. She did let one long, loud raspberry fly at the end of it all, when it was all over.

(Of course, in certain respects, Katara and Aang could go jump in a mudpit for all she cared about it, but... they might actually like that, so she dispensed with the analogy.)

Toph went back to the Gaang's tent and blissfully collapsed into her sleeping furs. "Ah! _Sweet_ silence!" She rubbed her ears for the joy of it. "I never thought I'd enjoy hearing nothing so much."

Sokka had trudged into the tent behind her. "Yeah. Sure."

"Hey, aren't you glad that that whole thing is _over?_" She grinned. "Man! What a bunch of windbags!"

"Yeah. Windbags." Sokka flumped down onto his furs.

Toph looked concerned. "Hey, what's wrong with you? I thought you'd be happy."

"About what?" The same flat voice.

"About kicking the Fire Nation out! I thought that's what you wanted!"

Sokka pointed at himself. "Does it _look_ like I'm happy?"

Toph paused... and then couldn't resist. "_No..._" She went happy-faced and waved her hand in front of her face a few times.

He didn't reply. He didn't object, or explode, or retort, or... anything. He just sat there.

Toph sat there, too, for a moment.

That didn't last long. "Okay. I don't get it. I thought you'd _like_ it when the Fire Nation got kicked out of their colony. Isn't that what they did to you? Didn't you want to do that to them?"

"Yeah. I did."

Toph waved her hands wide. "_So what's the matter?_"

Sokka sat quietly for a moment, and then, he replied.

"I know you couldn't see their faces, Toph. That's what I wanted. I really did! I wanted them to feel what I felt... like somebody had come and torn down _their_ houses, killed _their_ family. Messed up _their_ lives."

He raised his head. "And when I saw them today, I knew they _did_ feel that way. They _are_ losing their homes. They're being taken away. They can't ever come back. But that's the thing, they... they're going through what _I_ went through. What _we_ went through—the Southern Water Tribe. It..."

He shook his head. "I know the Fire Nation deserves this. I know the Earth Kingdom deserves its territory back. But what I saw..." Toph couldn't see the look on his face, but she could hear it in his voice. "Their homes are getting torn up just like mine was. And it doesn't mean that my home is coming back! It means... we've _all_ lost our homes."

He sniffed and wiped his nose. "I mean, at least I get to _go_ back home. _We_ can rebuild. We will. But them... They've lost it. For good. And it doesn't change what I lost at all. I suffered... now they're going to suffer."

It was ironic; Sokka could have used those words with a different tone during the war and meant something completely different, something vengeful, something with a desire to hurt. But now... now he mourned. Toph could hear it. This wasn't vengeance.

Sokka hung his head.

There was a part of Toph that wanted to be loud and rambunctious, to bellow the thing away if she could, to get rid of this strange silence that... was just so outside her experience. That's how she was. This was... odd.

At the same time... there was another part of her that knew what to do, that knew what she wanted to do, as odd, as potentially oogie-filled as it was, but she still wanted to... she just had to bring herself around to doing it.

And so... finally... she did.

She butt-shuffled herself across the tent over to where he was... and she held him.


End file.
